Barrier Poland
1966, 83min.
Script/dir.: Jerzy Skolimowski, Dir. of Phot.: Jan Laskowski, Compos.: Krzysztof Komeda, Sound: Wieslawa Debinska, Edit.: Halina Prugar.
Cast: Jan Nowicki, Joanna Szczerbic, Tadeusz Lomnicki, Zbigniev Maklakiewicz, Ryszard Pietruski, Maria Malicka, Malgorzata Lorentowicz.
The boy suddenly decides to leave behind everything he has been living by for a year, he packs up all his belongings and he walks off carrying his big suitcase. He walks off into the country through Poland and into the world as he firmly believes somewhere and some time some sort of splendid and easy life is waiting for him. And yet he starts shilly-shallying… There is something that has been holding him back from making his final step. Is it pride or self-consciousness? Thus he has been clinging to any excuse imaginable in order to put off the decisive moment. And then while wandering on through the night he runs into a girl and quite unexpectedly he tells all the truth about himself. They both realize that their getting-together is a matter of chance and rather a passing adventure and the likelihood of its lasting is dim and so right from the very beginning they both expect nothing else but some form of parting. And though they are dancing and gazing into each other’s eyes, and though they seem to like each other very much, the only thing they are able to tell about love is: - Oh what a pity there will be no time for us to fall for each other!
Awards
First Prize - Grand Prix (IX Gran Premio Bergamo 1966 Concorso Internazionale del film D’autore); Jury Special Prize (Valladolid IFF, 1968).
Production Company
Kamera Film Unit
| Skolimowski, Jerzy  Jerzy Skolimowski (born 1938, Lodz, Poland)
Director, scriptwriter, actor, poet and painter. He graduated in ethnography from Warsaw University in 1959 and attended the prestigious Polish Film School in Lodz. Skolimowski has directed more than 20 films in and outside of Poland. At college, he took up boxing, which was the subject of a feature-length documentary, his first film, shot in 1961. By his early 20’s, Skolimowski had published several books of poems, short stories and a play. This led to his writing the screenplay and playing a boxer in Andrzej Wajda’s film The Innocent Sorcerers. He subsequently teamed up with Roman Polanski, writing the script of Knife in the Water in 1962. Between 1964 and 1984, he completed several semi-autobiographical features. While living and working in many countries, he also completed six big budget productions including four international co-productions between 1970 and 1992: The Adventures of Gerard, King, Queen, Knave, The Shout, The Lightship, Torrents of Spring and Ferdydurke, all distinctly bearing Skolimowski’s signature. His first US production, The Lightship, starring Robert Duvall, won Best Director Award at the Venice IFF. His next project, Torrents of Spring, starred Timothy Hutton, Nastassja Kinski and Valeria Golino. Two of his films won awards in Cannes IFF: Grand Prix du Jury for The Shout and Silver Palm for Moonlighting. He also won the Golden Bear in Berlin for Le Depart. His last film, Four Nights with Anna premiered in Cannes, and received Grand Jury Prize at the Tokyo IFF in 2008. Skolimowski’s portrayal of a ruthless yet composed KGB colonel in White Nights, established his credentials as an actor. His acting credits are L.A., Without a Map, Mars Attacks!, Torrents of Spring, and Big Shots among others. His paintings were exhibited all around Europe and in the United States. He took part in the Venice Biennale, and his work was acquired by Contemporary Art Museums in Poland and Greece, as well as private collectors in the US, UK, France, Italy, Germany, and other countries. Skolimowski currently resides in Malibu, California and Warsaw, Poland.
Filmography
Oko wykol/The Menacing Eye (1960, short), Hamles/Little Hamlet (1960, short), Eroty/Erotique (1960, short), Boks/Boxing (1961), Pienadze albo zycie/Money or Life (1961, short), The Nude (1962), Rysopis/Identificqtion Marks: None (1964), Walkower/Walkover (1965), Bariera/Barrier (1966), Rece do gory/Hands Up! (1966), Le depart (1966), Deep End (1970), The Adventures of Gerard (1970), King, Queen, Knave (1972), The Shout (1978), Moonlighting (1982), Dialog 20-40-60 (segment The Twenty-Year-Olds, 1968), Succes Is the Best Revenge (1984), The Lightship (1985), Torrents of Spring (1989), Ferdydurke/Thirty Door Key (199!), The Hollow Man (1993), Cztery noce z Anna/Four Nights with Anna (2008).
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